The use of bark dust and chips, mulch and other material as ground cover is common and is hereafter sometimes collectively referred to as bark dust or chips. Such materials are purchased by the truck load and spread under trees, around bushes and so on. A method of distribution has been developed wherein a blower system is installed on the back of a bark hauling truck. A feeder bin at the back end overlies a blower tube to which a flexible hose is attached. The bark dust/chips are pushed into the feeder bin and then fed into the air stream of the tube and into and through the hose. An operator directs the distal end of the hose for depositing the material into the desired area. The hose is sufficiently long to enable such distribution of the bark dust/chips substantial distances from the truck, e.g., into a back yard of a residence with the truck sitting in a driveway at the front of the house.
In the prior art, it takes two operators to handle this process. One operator, of course, needs to manipulate the discharging end of the hose. The other operator needs to oversee the process of depositing the bark chips into the feeder bin at the end of the truck. A moving front wall is used to push the material toward the back of the truck box/container but operation of the wall needs to be monitored and controlled as well as monitoring of the material flow into and through the feeder bin, e.g., to unplug the feeder bin inlet should clumps of the material bridge over the inlet and close off flow into the feeder bin.